Social Innovation Mentorshttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com
Sharing our ideas & experiences to the world
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1 http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngSocial Innovation Mentorshttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com
A Year Journey with the Social Innovation Mentorshttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/a-year-journey-with-the-social-innovation-mentors/
https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/a-year-journey-with-the-social-innovation-mentors/#respondWed, 10 Apr 2013 10:13:41 +0000http://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/?p=924Continue reading →]]> The Social Innovation Mentoring program (SIM) is a 12 month program from CCL that fosters leadership, entrepreneurship and service through a mentoring approach. To achieve the amplification of the 26 female voices we took under or wings during this project as well leveraged CCL methods like the Life Tree, Social Identity Map and DAC model. The 26 female are all university student at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture Building and Construction College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The campus is mainly known as a male dominated school in the city.

CCL believes that developing young leaders should be a process achieved through time. Therefore SIM was designed to develop the students as leaders and help unlock their individual potential through a variety of leadership train the trainer session. In the beginning all participants went the Leadership Essentials Program which helped them to see that leadership starts from leading themselves and then lead others using their personal way. According to the participants the Social Identity Map has been a great tool to identify what their Given, Chosen and Core identities are and how they can apply that in a real life. Flavoring the leadership trainings with different Team in a Box activities such as “Irrigation Ditch” opened many of the participants’ eyes to see what Direction Alignment and Commitment is all about and how that applied in their team work. In general the Leadership Essentials Training helped them to discover their various leadership potentials and created multiple opportunities to apply those leadership skills throughout the whole duration of the project.

Another aspect of SIM was the combination of leadership and entrepreneurship. Weekly Lunch & Learn brought them closer to the idea of entrepreneurship, while also giving the participants insight in how professional business women in apply their entrepreneurial leadership in very creative ways in Ethiopia. Through that experience the students learned that limited resources does not necessarily imply limited business and entrepreneurial opportunities. Just recently SIM hosted a Fair Day at iceaddis, the place SIM was operated—“iceaddis is a University-based innovation hub, incubator and co-working space for communities. [It] contributes to Ethiopia’s economic growth by tightening the constructive interaction between researchers, developers, entrepreneurs, creative workers and customers and by promoting local technological solutions to the public.”—For the Fair Day the participants came up with their own innovative products such as variety of jewelries, creative notebooks out of recycled paper, children’s story books, a concept for a portable public toilet and much more, since they then engage themselves to sell their products to potential local clients, using the connections they have in the community.

“I have learned that I shouldn’t only stick on my Engineering field as if that is the only thing I can do in life; recently I came up with a homemade Herb Mixed Tea Spic, as a substitution of a teabag. At the Fair Day, people liked it and bought my product and that motivated me to take these things forward in life.” Bezawit Admasu, who is a member of the Social Innovation Mentoring program, gave us her comment about what SIM and especially the Fair Day meant to her. Obviously, the program helped participants to think and do things beyond the social boundaries the society has been given to them.

Through SIM we produced entrepreneurial leaders who are now more confident on the things they like to do in their lives rather than struggling with what they have to do.

SIM also opened up doors for the participants to practice their skills and gain experiences in the community through giving services. “I discovered the joy of volunteerism for myself though this program” said one of the participants after her service at the Peace Corps GLOW Summer Camp in BahrDar. SIM was able to partner up with different local and international organization as to promote volunteerism in Ethiopia through the project, in order to broaden the impact on both the society and the participants. Through these volunteer opportunities many of the participants traveled to over 6 regions in Ethiopia to work as a counselor and share their stories with high school students. Another opportunity to apply volunteerism in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, was SIM’s work at the local orphanages by tutoring, counseling young people. SIM participants also helped a local NGO to design a public toilet and shower for a chance of creating income for elders at the age of 60 and above.

The Social Innovation Mentoring program gave 26 female students the opportunity to unlock their potential and become leaders of their generation through a series of leadership trainings, mentorship, entrepreneurship and service. Evaluating the program showed that most of the participants developed new skillset and opened up to new perspectives about their chances in life and ways of impacting their society. They learned about their Social Identities and how to leverage these to increase effectiveness as a leader.

Even though the SIM pilot program came to an end early this year, the participants volunteered to take their experiences and trainings forward to continue to work with high school girls and other female students attending the university. Seeing the impact SIM created on its participants and context you cannot but acknowledge its successes and wonder about how far we could take it with further funding and application opportunities.

]]>https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/a-year-journey-with-the-social-innovation-mentors/feed/0socialinnovationmentorsImageAt the Fair Dayhttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/at-the-fair-day/
https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/at-the-fair-day/#respondTue, 19 Mar 2013 11:51:40 +0000http://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/?p=883February 23, 2013: Social Innovation Mentors Fair Day at the EiABC campus.
Click to view slideshow.
]]>https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/at-the-fair-day/feed/0socialinnovationmentorsSIM’s Fair Dayhttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/sim-fare-day/
https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/sim-fare-day/#respondFri, 22 Feb 2013 19:51:00 +0000http://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/?p=567Continue reading →]]>On Feb, 23 2013, SIM is presenting exclusive products made by our Mentors. This is our big finale to show what Social Innovation Mentors are able to do.You can find a preview below together with a brief description. If you find them interesting don’t hesitate to contact us.

Message from the Mentor: It is home made product with affordable cost that anyone can use. The cover is made of recycled paper.

Hiwot Tekalign, “Kia’s cookies”

Purchase Contact: 0910655683

Message from the Mentor: In addis ababa cookies are one of the most demanded products but the supply is scarce. I made 3 types of cookies (lemon butter cookies, chocolate chips & peanut butter cookies). They come in wrap boxes of different size & shapes (custom made).

Kalkidan Kebede, “But’a Bags”

Message from the Mentor: Wallets out of Cardboard, gift wrappers, paint & color papers to reduce waste around the city & recycle used materials.

Message from the Mentor: Its a birthday book for kids of age 1-10. What makes it special is that it has its page for comments of friends family & a page for placing their pictures every year.

Lidya Alemayehu, “Paper bag”

Purchase Contact: lidisweet@yahoo.com

Message from the Mentor: This paper bag is made of old newspapers and shoelaces. It basically uses a very simple procedure. The aim of the product is to minimize the usage of plastic bags, since they are non recyclable, and encourage the use of recycled materials.

Mahlet Deneke, “Abyssinia”

Message of the Mentor: I made different types of jewellery out of roasted & soaked coffee beans tied by threads.

Meron Tedla, “Kids To”

Purchase Contact: meron_tedla@yahoo.com

Message from the Mentor: Day care at condominiums, based on the inhabitants need. The concept is profitable and the collected money from the day care will help other kids as well for their school fee, food and clothing.

Message from the Mentor: The critical sanitary problem that exist in Addis Ababa needs special attention: There are different solutions, the major one is constructing a clean, attractive, technological, flexible, easily available, easily constructible and low cost public toilet. In one two words a smart toilet. How? Follow the link to the PowerPoint Presentation!

We hope you enjoyed our products!

Thanks for having a look. Please feel free to leave a comment for improvements or customized orders.

This past Saturday, our Lunch and Learn took place outside of our usual spot, iceaddis. We went to the Children’s Heaven Orphanage center around Aeyer Tena in Addis. Every SIM member had a chance to talk about what Social Innovation Mentoring is all about and the impact that brought in everyone’s life so far; and that extended with a fun discussion by sharing our stories as a Mentor. The next activity was to draw a Life Tree where the kids learned to identify their goals, core values, support, challenges and future plans in life. Our visit was ended up by giving a little piece of training on how to make a fun thread-bracelet . . . . . we will be continuing visiting local NGOs to pass down our trainings and experiences we have had in our Social Innovation Mentoring program.

Click to view slideshow.
]]>https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/continuing-on-investing-back-on-our-communities/feed/0socialinnovationmentorsGoing back to our High Schoolshttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/going-back-to-our-high-schools/
https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/going-back-to-our-high-schools/#respondMon, 29 Oct 2012 10:15:32 +0000http://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/?p=449Continue reading →]]>Social Innovation Mentoring program prioritizes investing on young high school women students with the knowledge, trainings and experiences the Mentors have had so far. The goal is to reach 800 female students through the 26 Social Innovation Mentors.

How does this work?

The mentors will go back to their former high schools to form a brand new Girl’s Clubs or strengthen the existing ones. Each mentor will have a mentee who will lead a Girl Club at her school to pass down what she has gained through the program. Mentors will spend at least an hour per week with their mentees to enhance their leadership skills through mentoring while they are developing friendship through different topics.

Result: Reaching 800 girls—generate a group of young girls who can lead others with effective leadership skills and design ideas to solve social problems to benefit the social sector.

]]>https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/why-social-innovation-mentoring/feed/0socialinnovationmentorsAppreciation Event!https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/appreciation-event/
https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/appreciation-event/#respondTue, 02 Oct 2012 06:26:27 +0000http://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/?p=408Continue reading →]]>The Social Innovation Mentoring program (SIM) aimed to reach 800 high school students in the year of 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. But our Mentors managed to reach out to so much more women in different age groups in the past 7 months due to their own personal motivation for participating in the program set up by the Center for Creative Leadership ( www.ccl.org ). The SIM girls have been volunteering in several Peace Corps Summer Camps and traveled to 5 different regions within Ethiopia to be big sisters, translators, activity facilitators and mentors for high school students – who never been to the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Abeba.

The same SIM Mentors got the privilege to volunteer for Ethiopian Senior Citizens, a local NGO in Addis Ababa (http://www.ethiopianseniorcitizens.org/), where they designed a new specially need-based public shower and restrooms for elders, age 60 and above. It will be a sustainable income generator for elder women in the sub-city of Lideta, Addis Abeba, who do not have the fund to pay for a professional one as soon as it’s build. Through this design they were able to step up for the elders in their society and provide a solution for those elders who are poor and disabled. To have a place to get affordable public service to clean themselves is not common in Ethiopia.

To cherish their personal success as well as sharing their stories with the public we organized an SIM Appreciation Event, which was held at iceAddis, on EiABC campus of the Addis Ababa University on September 29th 2012. The investment that has been made through CCL itself, the Leading Beyond Boundaries Initiative (www.leadbeyond.org ) and the Marrow Fund towards the Social Innovation Mentors got praised as well for all the difference it caused for the 26 participating girls studying on that campus. Beyond that we wanted to show family members and friends what we’ve been done in the past months and thank everybody – especially our weekly guest speakers – who contributed time, experience, connections and ideas to our program. We have had a wonderful time with our invitees on that sunny Saturday in Addis and we hope to continue our work with our family & friends, guests & contacts from local and international NGOs as well as from various other organizations who have been supporting our Mentors. We’ve tried a different approach this time to promote and support our solely female mentors during our appreciation event, we divided our presentations in four different stations to talk about the work we’ve done so far and guided our invitees from one station to the next, where we introduced volunteerism as a means to come up with and share innovative solutions to our own society, showed our products, shared our training with the guests through first hand experience, talked about chances provided by the Lunch & Learn program and shared our experience from trips and events. The SIM girls showed an outstanding performance to challenge their environment through their unique experiences and proved that you can be who you want to be as a young women in Ethiopia. Now, they will continue to unlock their own potential and share it with the rest of the world.

“Shocking. That was the word that came to mind. AS our Regional Director in Africa, the team kept me posted – I knew about Lunch & Learns, field trips, growing volunteerism – but all of the daily accomplishments had passed me by and really added up! Tsion was good to organize an Appreciation Event at the iceaddis Hub (www.iceaddis.com). We had about 70 people join the 26 women who have all committed countless hours to the Marrow Foundation funded Social Innovation Mentors program. We wanted leaders who could hep develop more leaders. We never imagined that their creative outreach would touch the lives of thousands!

It wasn’t until this past Saturday that I began to more fully appreciate what this movement was accomplishing. I heard a Peace Corps representative explain how our girl’s impacted hundreds of students through their Peace Corps summer camps in 5 regions of Ethiopia. One gentleman from the Ethiopian Senior Citizen Association explained how these women were improving the livelihoods and public health of local citizens by designing public bathrooms and shower facilities for the elderly and disabled. The model provided jobs for those cleaning and caring for the facilities through the low cost usage fees. The women testified to the life-transforming trips they have taken to conflict zones like Gambella. These women are all volunteers in a society where volunteerism is unheard of… teaching in orphanages, leading clubs in schools, donating time to local institutions, and innovating around projects to improve the city where they live.

We invite you to dream with us. What if hundreds more Ethiopian women had the access to mentoring, training, and leadership development that is generating these outcomes through affordable, accessible, and scalable solutions. Be a part of a movement and find ways to help us at www.leadbeyond.org”

]]>https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/appreciation-event/feed/0socialinnovationmentorsMapping Event with Googlehttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/mapping-event-with-google/
https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/mapping-event-with-google/#respondMon, 03 Sep 2012 08:43:03 +0000http://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/?p=375Continue reading →]]>Google Sub-Sahara Africa had launched it first Mapping Event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on August 30 and 31 @iceaddis. Social Innovation Mentors had the privilege of being a part of this wonderful event; thanks to Abel Asrat–Google Student Ambassador at Mekelle University–who connected SIMs to the Mapping Event.

SIMs were trained on some of the google products such as Gmail, G+ and Google Map Maker.The event will allow our members to improve their digital communication in more organized way. During this Event, SIMs team along with Mekelle University students computed in locating more sittes around their Universities. We are also interested to engage in similar activities by hosting such events to EiABC students who currently don’t have a GSA representative on campus.

Click to view slideshow.
]]>https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/mapping-event-with-google/feed/0socialinnovationmentorsA Bamboo Project in Gambellahttps://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/a-bamboo-project-in-gambella/
https://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/a-bamboo-project-in-gambella/#respondThu, 09 Aug 2012 06:21:38 +0000http://socialinnovationmentors.wordpress.com/?p=274Continue reading →]]>A whole new world to many of us when we arrived to Gambella on July 15th after a day and a half road trip from Addis–777kilometer away. Almost none of us has not been this far away from home in our life, this was a whole new experience for us.

We chose to introduce Bamboo to our friends in Gambella and had permission to do our design at Hope Enterprises School Gambella branch. Here was our chance to actually test out our skills in a real life.

We also had “Experience Sharing Day” with a number of female college students in Gambella town. That was just outstanding!

Early Sunday Morning, we embarked on a journey to Lake Langano for a much deserved and anticipated team building camping retreat. The objectives of the retreat were for everyone to get to know each other better, experience new things, enhance team work, and take a little break. Most of us had just finished our final exams and presentations, and had never been camping, so we were excited and nervous about the getaway, not knowing exactly what to expect. As we arrived at our meeting point, the EiABC, and greetings were warmly exchanged, a buzzing energy of excitement and enthusiasm began to build on the bus. Our awesome driver and the only male on the trip, Girma, put the bus in motion at around 9:00AM and off we went! The ride to Langano was about six hours long, including a stop for lunch. The sound of laughter, singing, clapping set a cheerful mood and made the time go by faster.

We arrived at our destination at around 3 PM. The sun was shining down on the light brown ripples of the lake, as small waves gently crashed onto the shore; we were all in awe of the beauty and serenity of our surroundings. Once the food- our simple menu for the retreat included eggs, pasta, noodles, corn, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- tents, sleeping bags, and luggage was unloaded, it was time to pitch our tents and figure out sleeping arrangements. Tsion strategically placed us together in different tents so that those who may not necessarily know each other best can have the opportunity to learn about one another; it was neither the easiest nor the most popular decision, but it embodied the essence of the retreat and at the end of the day, proved to be effective in forging new connections.

For the next few hours, we radiated with carefree excitement, splashing around in the lake. For most of us this was the first time camping by a lake. There is such beauty and power in new experiences and the effect they have on those who are fortunate enough to have them; they open you up, expand your horizons and reveal new possibilities. When shared with others, these experiences bring people closer and become a shared memory, an unbreakable commonality. Although we were only a few hours into the retreat, we already beginning to see the effect it was having on everyone, and it become more and more obvious as time went on.

In the evening, as we sat around a campfire and had dinner, we took turns talking about ourselves, our lives, and what we believed were our most formative experiences. The overwhelming trust, openness, and honesty expressed were truly refreshing. There is a certain degree of vulnerability associated with revealing intimate about ourselves, a vulnerability that we were all willing to expose ourselves to by sharing our stories, hopes and struggles, trusting that the others will not betray or misuse that information. That night, emotional barriers were broken; certain perceptions we may have had were challenged; and if I’m not mistaken, most of us walked away moved by the stories we heard and feeling closer to one another.

The next day was busy and filled with a variety of leadership and team building activities. After breakfast, each of us was given a journal which would serve as a way to record and keep track of thoughts and experiences, not only during the retreat but also for the entire summer, as many of the SIMs are taking on exciting and challenging projects. Next, we engaged in the Match Tower activity. Two girls were asked to construct a tower with matchboxes, and they easily successful in doing so. They were then asked to repeat the task; this time they blindfolded and allowed to use only their non-dominant hand. Suddenly, it was no longer a simple endeavor and neither participant was able to successfully construct the tower. The objective of the game was to demonstrate that our expectations will not necessarily always be met, and that from time to time we will be thrown a ‘curveball’ to tackle.

The next activity was “What Am I”. A word (object, person, etc) was randomly given to each participant and placed on their forehead so as they are not able to see what it is. The goal was to successfully guess what the word is by asking a series of yes or no questions. The objective of the game was to build trust, encourage communication, strategic information gathering and creative thinking.

The third and final activity before lunch was “Magic Carpet”. Standing on one side of a relatively small piece of tarp, the girls were asked to flip it over completely without setting foot off of it. If any one person failed to keep both feet on the “carpet” the entire team was forced to start over. The objective of the game was to encourage leadership, communication, cooperation, and persistence. It was amazing to observe the process and the evolution of leadership and communication dynamics between the girls. After several tries, they succeeded!

After lunch, everyone was given time to relax followed by time to reflect on and write about what insights we have gained from the morning’s activities and how we believe we can apply them to our personal and professional lives as mentors and female leaders.

The fourth activity for the day was “Irrigation Ditch”. The goal was to successfully transfer a glass marble from one end of the line to other via pieces of plastic tubing, which each individual held independently. If at any point, the marble fell to the ground or was touched, we were forced to start over. The objective of the activity was to encourage team work, effective communication and creative problem solving.

At the end of the day, right before dinner, we debriefed and openly shared our thoughts about the different activities. We discussed themes such as cooperation and communication. Insights we shared during this session were clearly reflected in the shifts in dynamics between us as the day went on. At first, there was some hesitation, but as we transitioned into later activities, there was a sense of ease and normalcy in working together as a team. As we sat around the campfire that night, small groups of us formed to come up with games to relax after quite a challenging and busy day. As we began to unwind and prepare for our last night in our tents at Langano, we could hear talk of not wanting to leave the next day; being outside the comfort zone has become comfortable.

On Tuesday morning, after breakfast, there was time for just two more activities. The first activity, “Body Telephone” revealed the challenge of accurately transferring a message without the use of words and the nuances and easily misinterpreted nature of body language. The second, “Trust Fall” was the perfect closing activity for the retreat. After sharing a newfound, renewed, and/or reinforced commitment to social innovation, we each put full trust in one another as we let go and fell into the expecting and supporting arms of the group. It was a powerful symbolic gesture; the ultimate exercise of both trust and support.

We only spent a few short days at Langano, but the experiences we shared will last a lifetime. (Sara Abraham/Tsion)